Do You Dream in Color?

More importantly, do you dream in plots?

I usually do both.  I’ve used vivid dreams as a basis for a number of stories, whether it be resolutions, plot points, characters or even some vital scene in the middle.  

If I think the idea has any validity for a story, I’ll get up and write it down.  Sometimes it’s sexy, sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s scary.  Three of my books have been greatly affected by plot points I’ve had in dreams.  The blackest moment for Cooper in Blood Relations?  That was a dream, in all it’s gory detail.  Lucky me… uh…

Then again, sometimes you’re not quite sure why your subconscious comes up with things.

The other night, after a fairly innocuous night of watching White Collar and Covert Affairs, I went to sleep.  Where I dreamt about digging up dead bodies with both Sherlocks.  Yep, Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr.  Okay, so maybe my subconscious was being really, really good to me, despite the clear anachronism of having the two of them interact.  I also dreamt that I helped a werewolf find his mate, although that involved a rather unfortunate amount of peeing on the carpet. 

Then, the good times ended when I dreamt I inhaled a wood chip, woke up and spent an hour coughing before remaining awake for the rest of the night.  Not much on the way of story ideas, sadly, except perhaps some slash Sherlock on Sherlock fan fiction, I suppose.  Blog fodder isn’t too bad, either ; )

But as I’d said, I do often rely on dreams for ideas either to start stories or to get past a hurdle or add a different subplot.  Anyone else use dreams for inspiration?

KC Burn

Here Comes the Snow...in Summer

I’m getting to the end of another round of edits to my current manuscript. Part of this book takes place during a blizzard that lands on top of my two heroes as they travel across the US to celebrate Christmas with their families. Well, here in Ohio it’s the middle of July and 80° F outside. Not much going on in the way of snow or Christmas.

It can be a challenge to add in the layers of sensory descriptions that give the story a sense of time and place when you’re ready to hit the pool while your characters are slogging through the snowdrifts.

But that dichotomy can make writing about a particular setting an engaging challenge. By writing about a time and/or place I’m not currently (or have never been) familiar with, I get a chance to do a little research, get inspired, and think outside the box in order to find a unique, vivid detail that will help ground the reader in the scene.

I’ve talked before (and maybe even on this blog) about how I like to use photos for inspiration, especially for settings. Here’s what helped me get in the spirit of winter and all things Christmas:

- I searched for winter and Christmas images at stock photography sites, Google Images, and other photo sites like flickr.com to help spark my creativity.

- While browsing the pics I kept a list of details that came to mind (including scents and sounds) and then related the most relevant ones to my character (his past, present, and future) and how he might emotionally react to each detail.

- I had the fan blowing on my face while I viewed the photos. Gave me that nice cool feeling that helped me forget it was hot outside. It was almost like being in the middle of a blizzard. Almost.

- Oh and I sang along with Christmas carols on my iPod. Because that’s just fun.

Had it been winter here in Ohio, I might not have gone to such lengths to get inspired, and I may have missed opportunities to push my descriptions past what I usually think of in terms of Christmas and the winter weather.

Of course, I hope I always push to write interesting setting descriptions, but this time around I’m glad I had a chance to write about winter in summer.

I'd love to hear other ideas...how would you get into the holiday spirit mid-summer?

Happy Holidays (a little early)!

Sloan Parker
www.sloanparker.com

Stranger Danger

I’m a big bundle of neuroses, and one of my big ones is strangers. And yet, like the proverbial cat who only wants to hang out with the allergic person, strangers are drawn to me. Now, if these were normal strangers, that would be one thing, but on the whole, they tend to be, well, strange strangers.

I once heard a comedian say “You know you’re from Toronto if you consider making eye contact an invasion of personal space.” That pretty much sums up my interactions with strangers back home. On the subway, making eye contact was an invitation for the weirdos to strike up a conversation. Aside from the fact that my commute was great for getting a lot of reading done, the book acted as an additional shield against the prying eyes of those who wanted to -- TALK. I mean, I’m not great at small talk at the best of times, but it takes a special kind of crazy to start talking to a stranger on the subway who is already reading a book. Completely freaks me out.

It’s happened many times. One time, a guy interrupted my reading to show me pictures of his daughter. If it was a newborn… I could probably forgive that. But no, just a whole roll devoted to a teenaged kid standing in a yard. Being a perennially polite Canadian, I let him ramble on, made a few non-committal remarks and got out at the next convenient stop.

Ever been in a movie theatre and had a complete stranger sit in the seat right next to you? Of course you have. But what about in a theatre that’s only ¼ full, and the person comes in partway through the movie -- far too late to be able follow the plot? That’s happened to me THREE times. I kid you not. Three. Each time, I was tense and uncomfortable for the remainder of the movie, partly because I’m envisioning the bit in Scream 2 where the girl gets murdered in a movie theatre. The over-active imagination doesn’t help any, but I’m a strange stranger magnet.

After moving to Florida, the friendly greeting and eye contact when you pass someone on the street or in a hallway… was totally foreign to me. It’s a cultural difference I’m still in the process of hurdling, because every time it happens the first thought to flit through my brain is “What do they want? And is it going to creep me out?” Hey, at least I’m looking them in the eye now. Progress. And if nothing else, I can probably use my stranger magnet as inspiration somewhere. Because you know I’m just waiting for the perfect story to slot in a stranger sliding into a movie theatre partway through and… murder? Delivering a secret message? Kidnapping? Don’t know yet, but I will!

KC Burn

Dreaming of Puppets

Inspiration. Sometimes it’s an armadillo attack. Sometimes it’s more mundane. (This is me, trying to bang out a writing related post -- just don’t expect it to be all erudite and filled with proper information and stuff… I’ll leave that to some of my fellow LI authors.)

Anyhoo… For those of you who don’t know me, I have two books out with Loose Id (Wolfsbane & Blood Relations in the MIA Case Files series). In these books, I’ve got entities called Umbrae which infect humans, creating mythological or folklore monsters. And MIA is the secret agency that combats them. Simple enough, right? But I thought I’d tell you a bit about my inspiration for them.

Dreams spawn a hell of a lot of my story ideas. Most of the dreams I remember involve blood and death, serial killers, someone trying to kill me, or a combination thereof. Fabulous material, although I suspect my brain is a nasty pit stop on the way to crazy town.

One night, though, I had a particularly vivid dream -- secret agents investigating paranormal phenomenon, angst-y romantic conflict between gruff Carmichael and sweet Adam, and even the stoic senior agent, Oliver, who is the hero of the manuscript I’m working on now. However, the paranormal being they were investigating? Uh… a fifty foot Oscar the Grouch-type monster. Kinda destroyed the whole ’secret’ thing, and didn’t do much for the scary-ness, although it was terribly impressive when he/it stomped all over the local football stadium.

It was a great start, but for a viable villain, I needed to start ’what-if’ing. And, OMG, actually plotting! Many a drive to work was spent toying with options. Probably I shouldn’t admit that I’d written two thirds of the first draft of Wolfsbane (which was sans title for a loooong time) before I hit on the Umbrae. The inspiration for Blood Relations was a little more simple, especially since I‘d already come up with the Umbrae, although it was also a dream. Unfortunately, if I tell you, it gives away the climax. Suffice it to say, Cooper’s black moment is pretty darn close to the way I dreamt it.

Some might say I’m in need of therapy and/or medication. I say I have a head full of creatively helpful nonsense. To-may-to, to-mah-to. Regardless, at times when I’m slated to write ten blog posts over the next month… inspiration is a handy-dandy topic.

Ummm… blog post starts out okay… but scrambles a bit looking for a solid finish…

Anyone got any good places they’ve found inspiration?

KC Burn

Armadillo Attack!

I could have misinterpreted its intentions, but if it wasn’t trying to attack, it was trying to scare me to death.

Last week, I forgot my netbook at work. After dinner, my hubby very kindly agreed to drive into back into work with me. I opened the front door and heard a weird noise. Ten feet away, right beside the path to the car, was an armadillo. I tell my husband. He says he can’t see it. Cleverly I move out of the doorway into the corner, outside. Mistake #1. Hubby claps his hands & shakes his keys to scare it away. Mistake #2. The armadillo popped up, turned around, and CHARGED us!

I shriek like I’m being chased by Freddy Kruger. My husband has to repeat “Get in the house” twice before I start moving. Because seriously, I was unable to move (and I‘m SO pleased to know I‘d be one of those annoying screamers in horror films who usually get whacked first because they just STAND there).

Finally, we were able to get into the house and slam the door shut. But what’s up with that armadillo? Are they aggressive? Do they bite? Hello… I’m from CANADA! I don’t know these things. Are they attracted to loud noises? That may explain the large number of them I’ve seen as road kill.

After some paranoid peeking out of the window, we sneak into the car and head to my work. Whereupon hubby says “I think armadillos carry some sort of disease. Starts with an L. And it’s not lycanthropy*. They don’t turn you into were-dillos.” Love the way his mind works, but then my naughty little brain prompts me to respond with, “What, were-dildos?” There’s GOT to be a story I can write around were-dildos, right? Erotic romance flavoured with a Douglas Adams-esque sensibility. ;)

Despite the fact I was a complete idiot and almost got mowed down by a rampaging were-dildo… er… armadillo, the night wasn’t a total loss. Hubby bought me ice cream, and I’ve got a possible concept for a humorous story (and a blog entry, let‘s not forget that). And if a psychotic kinkajou or capybara or yes, even an armadillo, shows up in a future story you can be sure the inspiration source was this memorable moment.

*side note: Hubby later remembered the disease was leprosy. Leprosy?!? I did a paper on leprosy for a paleopathology course in university, and I don’t recall ARMADILLOS mentioned even once in my research! I do remember leprosy is not easy to catch, thankfully, but I’m still going to be worried about the vicious, leprosy-riddled, space alien larvae every time I leave the house after dark. Because, seriously, I need MORE neuroses in my life.

Probably I should have introduced myself, but I'm as terrible at that online as I am in person. I'm KC Burn, I've got two releases with Loose Id, and I'm amazed to be in such great company.

KC Burn

Stretching the Creative Muscles

Last month I posted about my outlining process after having just finished the outline for my third romantic suspense. Before digging in to write that book, I decided to get together notes for two other stories that, if all goes well, will be waiting for me to write next year. That means I'm outlining three books back to back. That's a lot of "what ifs."

Brainstorming new stories can be an exhausting process (at least for me). I have to stretch my creative muscles, push past insecurities, doubts, the mundane and clichéd ideas. Push past the first sparks of possibilities and dig deeper to find a story unique for these characters. I hope I'm coming up with something interesting. Only time (and my editor) will tell.

But it got me to thinking about where creativity comes from? Is it something innate - something we either have or do not have? Is it something that can be taught? A skill that can be honed over time?

I think it may be a combination of who we are, what we learn, the experiences we've lived through, the inspiration we take in everyday, and the continued practice of being creative over and over again. One of my favorite quotes reads..."Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young." -W. Somerset Maugham.

I hope that's true. I'm doing a lot of exercising of the imagination right now. And I'm certainly not getting any younger.

So what do you think? How do people generate unique ideas? And not just for writers. Creativity is useful in so many of life's problems. It can help construct business decisions, reduce spending, organize the chaotic, and save lives. Where do those ideas and the more artistic kinds of creativity come from? I'm curious to hear what you think.

Sloan Parker
www.sloanparker.com

NOLA inspiration

I went to New Orleans at the beginning of this month for EPICon. I have to be an awful person and admit that I pretty much only went because of the location. I LOVE New Orleans. I'd only ever been there once before, about 10 years ago, but the trip was memorable enough for me to think of it fondly.

I'm happy to say that I'll also remember my second trip fondly. I stayed with my critique partners Ally Blue and Jade Buchanan and spent most of my time with them. We arrived on Tuesday, two days before the actual conference, because we wanted to see some of New Orleans. The hotel was just blocks away from the French Quarter so that was awesome. We had coffee (ok, I had cocoa) and beignets at Cafe du Monde. They had po boy sandwiches and blackened fish and I had my favorite crawfish. And, yes, two nights of our stay we did do Bourbon Street. I'm happy to say that even though we were shaky, we did make it back to the hotel safe and sound both nights. During the conference, we met up with some other friends: Laura Baumbach, Lucynda Storey, Rick Reed, Jolie duPre, ZA Maxfield, GG Royale... I know I'm missing people and I'm sorry about that. The conference was great, although I don't tend to do workshops much.

Now, about the inspiration. There were SO many pretty boys there. Oh. My. God! From the cutie at the hotel desk, to the street magician with the fox tail, to the adorable young man who worked in the sex shop. New Orleans was full of them. Ally, Jade and I spent hours in one bar on Bourbon Street just watching the show on the dance floor. It was awesome! I might have to move there just to bask in their gorgeousness.

Off to EPICon on a Train

Well, soon I'm off to EPICon. I think the trip will be fun. I've signed up for the Riverboat Cruise so that, at least, has to be something, right? But, really, it's New Orleans. How can that not be awesome?

But, you know what? I'm almost looking forward to the trip there more. Why, you ask? Because I'm doing something different. I'm taking the train. Those of you on the east coast or in Europe may not think this is a big deal, but I'm a southern California girl born and bred. I've never ridden on a long distance train. I've certainly never taken a two day trip and had a sleeper! But that's exactly what I have this time. I'm taking the Amtrak Sunset Limited from LA to New Orleans. I believe it's a 48 hr trip.

The scariest part about it, though, is that there's no wireless on the train. I shall be without the intertubes for two days. O_O To be honest, that almost canceled the idea for me right there. But the SO, my parents, my friends and coworkers all scolded me for that and convinced me to go. I'll still have the laptop, after all. Just won't be connected. I don't have an iPhone as of yet, y'see. Although I really should.

So, anyway, wish me luck and plot bunnies. I can't imagine that the solitude -- no family going with me -- won't inspire me some. That is, if I don't catch up on sleep!